Filming Diary Libby Jones

Day One 16 /11 / 13Morning

In the morning we filmed act 3 scene 1 at cawthone park. We also filmed the ‘feeding the ducks’ shots for the montage.

What went well: All the cast arrived ready and punctual. Because we filmed in the morning the area was quiet (which was a relief, as it can be a very busy location). The shots were lit and angled just and we Had imagined. We tuck all the shots listed on the shot list (and other experimental shots.) I'm really pleased with the quality of the footage taken at this location.

Problems during filming:

1. A lot of the outdoor footage has errors. This is because people walked onto the shot during filming. It was quite funny to watch back the bloopers. One of my favorite mistake shots has a man and his dog running across the screen. Obviously this footage is unusable but thankfully we did manage to take the shots again without any errors.

2. The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the location was that a large poppy had been erected on the front of cannon hall. This did initially cause both me and Rachel to panic. The scene is supposed to represent the Edwardian period and the poppy is a iconography element that doesn’t fit in this time period. We tried to ensure the mise en scene used was relevant to the Edwardian period, but in this instance there was nothing we could do. We made the best of this situation by filming close- up shots (so you can’t see the background) and long shots where cannon hall is in the distance.

3. One of the disadvantages about filming outdoors is that its difficult to control unwanted sound. The audio picked up the sound of the wind and also the waterfall and geese that were close by. However this doesn’t matter too much because there is no dialog in these scenes and we are planning on replacing the original audio with music during editing.

Day One 16/11/13Afternoon/eveningIn the afternoon we filmed act 2 scene 4 and act 3 scene 2 at Rachel's house.

What went well: I enjoyed setting up the “office scene”. The vintage beuro that Rachel had in her living room helped create a Edwardian setting. We also used other props such as a antique fountain pen, lit candles and the hand scripted letter. The room we were filming in had thick curtains which were drawn, this helped to blackout the sunlight and give the illusion it was evening.

Problems during filming:

1. When we were filming in the bedroom it was difficult to get the lighting right. In the scene it is supposed to be evening time but in reality it was still light outside. We had some problems trying to blackout the sunlight. We also found it difficult to get a clear focus on the characters once we had made the room dark. I don’t think the footage we have for this scene is very clear because the focus bounced off the different light sources.

2. The actors for the film were chosen only the night before the first day of filming. Because of this it tuck some time for both me and Sam to familiarise ourselves with the script.

Day 2 17/11/13

We filmed some of the shots in town today. Because we filmed on a Sunday late in the afternoon the Town was quieter and this made it easier to film. Some of the shots we set up were:

Alice and tom in the park – the park was quiet ( except for a man and his dog) . Also the leaves created a nice autumn scene.

Alice and tom walking near the fountains- this shot wasn’t on the shot list but we thought that a shot near the fountains would work well as part of the romance montage.

Alice looking through a shop window – this was a little embarrassing for me to film because there were lots of people in this area of town. The idea of this shot is to show Alice is confused by the style of dress displayed in the window. I think the display window we chose represented this idea well.

Problems during filming:

1. we missed a lot of shots off the shot list. I think this was partly due to the fact that we were rushing and we didn’t arrange for any extra actors to come in.

2. There was an instance where a couple of kids stood watching us during filming but this didn’t cause any problems.

Day 3 21/11/13Today we filmed act 2 scene 1 and act 2 scene 2. we also filmed the shots of Alice crossing road which is part of the opening montage.

What went well: we wanted to create a scene that looked like a hospital hall way. After reviewing each floor of collage we decided on to use the fifth floor because it was the clearest corridor and had the least things on the wall. I think the corridor combined with Rachel's character who was wearing a nurses outfit made the scene look like a realistic hospital ward.

I think the ‘crossing the road shots’ also went well because we got a range of different angles. Also we were fortunate that Megan came along to play the part of a radomer in the shot.

Day 3 21/11/13 Problems during filming:

1.) we were going to film the town shots we forgot to do on day too, but unfortunately it started raining and we were also loosing daylight. This puts us a little bit behind our initial shooting schedule, but I'm sure we can film these few shots some other time.

2.)The hallways were really busy and people kept interrupting and walking through during filming.

3.) we filmed in a different sick room to the one we had originally done a location recce and risk assessment for. The room we had planned to film in was in use. This did cause some minor problems because the layout and lighting of the room wasn’t very good.

4.)When filming the outside shots it was very cold and starting to rain. The pink dress I was wearing also managed to attract a lot of unwanted attention including:

a group of OAP’s asked what we were doing and then sat watching us.

A man who stopped to ask me if I was getting married (he must of thought I was wearing a wedding dress)

When I was looking across the road waiting for the camera to roll, several cars stopped for me to cross the road.

Day 4 27/ 11/13

This afternoon/evening we filmed act 1 scene 3 at Millers inn.

What went well:

1. the pub wasn’t busy (the whole time we were there was only three customers and the bar tender.

2. We really liked the setup and lighting inside the pub. the set design expressed the characteristics and moods that we wanted to establish in the scene.

Problems during filming:

3. We had to be finished before five o’clock because the pub were doing a ‘curry night’ and the landlord said the pub would get too busy. This meant that filming was a little rushed.

4. Were worried about the quality of the audio because there was music playing in the background as well as other sounds such as people talking, dishes clanging together in the kitchen ect. To make matters worse my voice was not very clear because I had a sore throat.

5. We were hoping to do the outside shots as well today but by the time we had traveled to millers inn and filmed the indoor shots it was too dark. Unfortunately we will have to come back to film these shots.

6. The pub was already trimmed up for Christmas, so there is a Christmas tree in one of the shots. But I don’t think this effects anything.

7. We had to change the scene slightly because Sam wasn’t old enough to go behind the counter. Initially Tom (Sam) was supposed to be working behind the bar when Alice(me) comes through the door. Instead the conversation takes place in front of the bar.

Day 5 11/12/13Today we re- shoot act 2 scene 4 and act 3 scene 2 at Rachel's house.

Act 2 scene 4:

This time we had a lamp that acted as the ‘key light’ in the shot. This made a significant difference to the shots. We could now see the characters face much more clearly. It also cast a slight shadow on the character making the image look more 3d.

I think the footage from this re-shot will improve the quality of the film. This time we got a variety of different shots and we ensured the shots were correctly focused.

Overall the filming was much easier than the first time as everyone new the script well at this point.

Act 3 scene2:

We decided to re-shoot this scene because in the original shots the camera was focused on the dress as appose to the letter. This time we used manual focus to emphasize the letter in the shot.

Day 6 16/12/13

Today we went back to Millers inn to film some outside shots of Alice walking towards the building. We were only filming for a short time but I think we have all the shots we needed to get.

Problems during filming:

1. There was a lamppost in front of the sign for millers inn but Rachel managed to find an angle where she could get a clear shot of the sign.

2. we tried to film some tracking shots, but it was too dark by this point and you could no longer see clearly.

3. We had to film the pan shot of Alice walking towards the building a few times because the roads were too busy. Eventually we managed to get a clear shot without any cars in the way.

Day 7 11/01/14 Today was our last day of filming.

Morning:

In the morning Rachel filmed act 3 scene 3. This is the scene where Tom finds the letter from Alice. The shots in this scene focused a lot on the props. For example a pull- focus shot was used to draw the audiences attention to the photos Tom is holding.

We've got shots of tom reading the letter from a variety of different angles. This will help when editing the clips as it means we can cut from an establishing shot to a close up shot. The establishing shot will make it clear to the audience that tom is sat reading the letter and the close up will show his emotions and expressions.

Afternoon:

We used the afternoon to film some shots in town that we had missed or forgot to film on other days.

Filming is completed